Page 26 of Keeping His Mate
“It’s something you enjoy, right?” she asks.
“Yes. Very much.”
“Then, of course, I’m interested.”
Such a simple response, yet such a powerful one. How? How do the correct words come so easily to Elle-noor? She speaks and warmth blooms inside my chest. I am envious. This is a skill I must practice because Elle-noor deserves to feel this chest warmth frommywords as well. I should speak with Varrek and Ahlvo about this. They must have some wisdom to offer on the subject.
I pull the tools from the crate next to the cask basin and begin setting them up on the shelf above in the order we will use them. Once everything is in place, I start a fire in the pit and place a metal bin filled with water on the grate above it. Then I drag the cold box from the corner and place it next to the fire pit. “Once the water boils, we will add in the rihbah extracts, and the flavors we wish to include. The moment that is done, we must place the bin into the cold box.”
“Rihbah, flavor, hot to cold. Got it,” Elle-noor repeats with an eager nod. “Can I pick out the flavors we add?”
“Certainly,” I reply. “This will be your ale, Elle-noor.”
She laughs and claps her hands together. “Oh my god! Then wehaveto call it ‘ale-noor.’”
“Ale-noor?” I repeat with a chuckle of my own. It is an interesting choice, but I am quickly learning that everything about Elle-noor is fascinating.
“Yes! Ooh, we should put those trippy berries in there!”
“No,” I say immediately. “That is a very bad idea.”
“I know, I know. I’m just kidding,” she says, waving a dismissive hand. “I do want it to be sweet, though. Kind of like those berries, just without the hallucinogenic haze that follows.”
“Ah,” I say, rising to my feet in a flash. I know what she will like. I grab the glass jugs filled with yellow tuunnahi leaves, and the one with fresh buufcasi berries, and hand both to her. “Drop in a few of each as I stir in the rihbah extract. That should provide the sweetness you desire.”
I catch her staring at my mouth, her dark brown eyes swirling with heat and her cheeks as pink as her lips. “Th-thank you,” she finally replies, rubbing her forehead with her free hand. “Um, three each, you said?” Her voice is higher than normal, and she suddenly seems flustered.
I step closer to her, not wanting this moment to end, but her eyes drop behind me and fill with panic. “The water!” she shouts.
Finding it boiling to the point of flowing over the side of the bin, I wave my arm over it, settling the bubbles on top. Using heat-protective tongs, I grab the handles on either side of the bin and pull it off the fire pit. I set it on the floor and begin stirring in the rihbah extracts with the wooden spoon. “You may add your sweetness, now,” I tell Elle-noor.
She stands next to me, and I feel the heat from her body as she presses her side into mine. “Happy to,” she says, the tone a husky rasp.
I am tempted to knock the bin on its side, rip the clothes off Elle-noor’s body, and fuck her so hard against the cold box that everything inside it melts into a puddle. But I do not know if that behavior would be welcome, and I have already made one blunder already this day with that untidy comment. I do not wish to make another.
She drops in her berries, then the tuunnahi leaves as I continue stirring the rihbah extract into the mixture. Once it is the color of the busay leaves before the rainy season, I toss the spoon to the side and place the bin inside the cold box. Elle-noor returns the glass bottles to the shelf and rinses the spoon beneath the spigot.
After sitting in the cold box long enough for the outside of the bin to cool, I pour the contents into a large mixing container and add more water. “Please retrieve the fungi additive from the crate,” I ask Elle-noor as I shake the vessel, aerating it.
“What’s that for?” she asks when I pour a few drops of da’koi sap into the mixture.
“I have found that it accelerates the organic decomposition process,” I reply, placing the small can of syrup on the floor next to the bin.
“You mean the fermentation process that beer goes through.” She nods with a knowing look. I nod also, having no understanding of fer-ment-aye-shun. “I’ve been through a couple brewery tours back on earth,” she says. I simply nod again.
I let Elle-noor pour in the dry fungi additive, then I fasten the vessel closed. She helps me load it into the container of darkness, where it will remain for the next two days as the plants and flavoring mix.
“Container of darkness? That’s what it’s called?” she asks, her tone incredulous and slightly amused.
“Why, yes,” I tell her. “Exposure to light would change the flavor, and most likely ruin the batch. So, it must be kept in here until it is ready to be consumed.”
Elle-noor nods, satisfied with my answer. “I just love that name. I feel like that’s what Kate and Niro should call their cave palace.”
A burst of laughter escapes me at the comment. “That is true. They should.”
I pour chilled water onto the fire, putting it out, and when I turn, I notice Stahn-lee fast asleep on the floor in the corner of the room next to the washroom. “I forgot he was here.”
Elle-noor laughs. “Shit, I did too. Are we terrible parents?”